I suppose it depends what type of photography you do - if youre a birder then cropping might be important, although frankly if you cant afford lenses to give the reach you want then the d7100 will do better than cropping on the d800.

Personally I generally shoot landscapes so cropping is not important, and I'll often do panos anyway so my d600 is as good IQ wise as anything except d3x.

It is very important for event photographers. I easily get two distinct photographs from one now using the D800e. Never could do that with the Fuji S2 Pro, Nikon D1x, D2x, and D90.

Bottom line, we are blessed with some recent cameras...D600, D4, D7100, D800, etc. All have features that were unheard of just a few years ago. It's a shame we feel a need to bash one over the other.